Malaysia

Cafe Hong Ping

Submitted by derms on Tue, 07/12/2004 - 4:01am.

We spent our time in the hotel hong ping - the hotel where you can smell the "culture" in the building (but pay more not to), hanging out in the "Cafe Hong Ping". We ended up chatting to 2 european guys now living in Thailand. One was a 50 year old Swedish guy who took in stray animals (mainly cats) off the street and kept them as pets, and the other a 40 year old Italian Pizzeria Owner who was bragging about how he recently aquired a 21 year old thai wife who doesn't speak much English - and no Itialian. They came to Penang so they could get their visa's "renewed" - ie leave thailand and re-enter it with fake passports, thus giving them another "tourist" visa. The Swedish guy was complaining about how the price of getting their visa's "renewed" had gone up quite substantially in the 6 or so years he had been there while the Italian guy was entertained us with a story about how Slash - the guitarist from Guns and Roses - once frequeted a bar that he owned in Thailand. It was an interesting conversation to say the least.

( categories: Malaysia )

my side.....

Submitted by lotte on Mon, 06/12/2004 - 2:46pm.

I've always wanted to immitate David Beckham, so here's the first chapter of MY book; my side (on holiday with a Dermot). First i must make the boring admission that he is not THAT bad, yeah i know aaaahhhhh, but he can be pretty annoying so listen and shiver...
Before we went away we did not see each other that often and that to start with is a big change - going from a few hours a day with dermie spermie to over 24 hours with D.S. We used to have breakfast on the weekend at the same place in leederville (greens or 130). This may seem a futile announcement for most of you but it is of great importance to understand D.S' annoying behaviour...

( categories: Malaysia )

Penang

Submitted by derms on Mon, 06/12/2004 - 1:30pm.

Lotte and I had a change of heart and decided to go to Penang, which is an island just off the north coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It was a 7.5 hour bus ride from Melaka, which went supprisingly quick (Lotte disagrees - probably because she had to put up with me for 7.5 hours ;). We got to see some of the beautiful landscape in Malaysia on the way - the rolling hills in this country are amazing.

Anyway we are staying at the "Hotel Hong Ping" - where the roofs of available rooms have the refreshing aroma of painted mould (by Calvin Klein). We'll probably stay here for a few days and then fly to Bangkok.

( categories: Malaysia )

Melaka

Submitted by derms on Sat, 04/12/2004 - 12:52pm.

We arrived in Melaka yesterday, which is a 2.5 hours bus ride south from Kuala Lumpur. Following on from what I said before about the traffic in KL, the bus terminal leaves a lot to be desired. The tickets we bought said that we had to leave from "Platform 11". We went down to where the buses were located but wouldn't see any platform numbers. Apparently, you have to count 11 buses from main entrance to find "Platform 11". It's not as easy as it sounds, as there were some buses that you "didn't count" - i think becuase they were parked horizontally. None of the people we asked could agree on what was actually "Platform 11". Anyway, we eventually found the right bus and arrived in Melaka.

( categories: Malaysia )

Found Lotte and "Found Attractive"

Submitted by derms on Sat, 04/12/2004 - 5:17am.

Well i eventually met up with Lotte and we ended up staying at a hotel located in China Town in Kualar Lumpur. I have to say that it has been an interesting experience. Those responsible for planning KL seemed to have overlooked the fact that people may actually want to walk somewhere. The roads in a lot of places are extremely narrow and there is no pavement, so you have to navigate through a never ceasing barage of traffic. Also for some reason no one, particilarly those on motor bikes, seems to obey any traffic laws what so ever (one of our taxi drivers took it upon him self to drive in the middle of two lanes for no apparent reason)

( categories: Malaysia )